Ja
#11,191 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' nameMeaning not yet documented
Ja has been given to 441 babies in the U.S. since 1971. In 2025 it ranked #11,191 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1999, with 20 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 69% boys, 31% girls all-time.
Babies named Ja, 2025
1 in 553,000
Ja over time, 1880–2025
Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Ja over time
In 2025, Ja went to 0% girls and 100% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Ja?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 553,000
- 6 of 3,315,165 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 285,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2025
- #11,191
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 382,984 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Ja sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ja. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Jas were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Ja was born before 1997 — so the typical Ja is around 28 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2000s
- 25.6% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 36.1%
- Spread across generations
- Recorded since 1950
- 305
- People you could plausibly meet
2000s — 25.6% of all recorded uses (78).
Is Ja rising or falling?
Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.
- Rank vs 1 year ago
- −1,842
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Births vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not published both years
- Share of its own peak
- 30.0%
- Peak was 1999 (20)
- Years since peak
- 26
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 41.8% average annual change
Where Ja is used — boys
Across 1910–2025, Ja was most concentrated in Colorado — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 431,572 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).
Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Ja has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Where Ja is used — girls
Across 1910–2025, Ja was most concentrated in Virginia — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 613,997 across all states with data.
Most concentrated
- 1Virginia1 in —
Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Ja has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Ja around the world
Where Ja ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.
- France1981–1981#2,912in 1981
- South Australia1967–1975#460in 1975
Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Ja by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Ja
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Ja
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.